Smith’s COVID-19 Incident Response Team (CIRT) announced that the college will further relax COVID-19 guidelines with a shift to “green mode,” starting on Monday, Feb. 28. In an email to the Smith community, the CIRT justified the decision, citing declining on-campus COVID cases associated with limited transmission of the virus.
According to the email sent on Tuesday Feb. 22 to students, staff and faculty, the most significant changes from the previous “yellow” operating mode, are that students will no longer be required to wear masks in residential houses, invited guests will be allowed in residential houses and individual lecturers will no longer be required to wear a mask while presenting.
Students, staff and faculty will still be required to test twice weekly and wear masks inside academic and administrative buildings.
This was met with mixed reactions from students, as some are excited to shed their masks in their houses, while others feel that the relaxing of the mandates has come too soon.
“I was a bit concerned initially,” said Holly Dickinson ’25. “But I think it’s a decision that was mulled over quite a bit, so I think if they think it’s safe, it probably is.”
“To me, it’s very small changes,” said Dickinson, though she noted that the change in residential masking is where she will be most personally impacted. “It’ll definitely feel better to hang out with friends and not worry about masking.”
Shreya Dwibedy ’22 and Capen House President, said that the switch presents a challenge for House Presidents. “If you have immunocompromised students in houses on campus, for them, it’s still really risky to contract COVID,” said Dwibedy. “They might feel weird about being at social events now if people are allowed to take their mask off.”
Dwibedy’s priority is to make everyone feel safe in houses, yet said this is difficult with the changing guidance. “It’s not really our decision to tell people in our house we’re gonna ignore what Smith says and we’re going to keep the mask rule in place,” said Dwibedy. “But also it feels weird to be okay with that, because that might mean that fewer people feel comfortable at house events and fewer people feel comfortable in the common rooms.”
“It’s hard to think about those decisions, even though I don’t have the expertise to do that,” said Dwibedy.
Sam Masinter, associate vice president of college relations and a member of CIRT, said “the COVID-19 response team recognizes that there are some people in our community who have elevated health risks or concerns about COVID.”
Masinter emphasized that the email from CIRT asked students, staff and faculty to “be sensitive to these concerns and respect the choices of those who continue to mask,” and “to use good judgment in all of your decision making.”
No further accommodations for members of the community who are at an increased risk for COVID, such as immunocompromised individuals, have been implemented.
Masinter said that the move to green mode was preempted by “the downward trend of regional and national caseloads.”
In Hampshire County, where Smith’s campus is located, the number of new COVID-19 cases from Jan. 24, the date when students were required to return for the spring semester, to Feb. 22, the date that the switch was announced, dropped by 526 cases.
Hampshire County has more COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people than any other individual county in Massachusetts.
